Sports news from Los Angeles and beyond

Lisa Guerrero: Yankees and Republicans go back to the drawing board

November 7, 2008 | 1:30
pm

I sailed through the Arizona Biltmore lobby on Wednesday like I owned the joint. Almost everybody there gave me the stink eye. No wonder. The day after Barack Obama was elected president, many Republicans were still hanging around the hotel where John McCain had given his concession speech the night before.

And there I was at the front desk checking in, wearing my Obama ’08 T-shirt.

Poor sportsmanship? I think not. Does a Red Sox fan have a problem wearing a David Ortiz jersey into Yankee Stadium? Nope. Now if that Red Sox fan dumped a beer on a Yankees fan sitting in front of him during the game, then that’s poor sportsmanship.

And an unforgivable waste of beer.

But sporting my team’s colors and enjoying Tuesday’s blowout victory are things that any loyal sports fan can relate to. We all love the story of the underdog who goes on to win the championship game. Team Barack, indeed.

My husband and I are in Phoenix to attend the wedding of Scott’s old University of Arizona teammate Kevin Long. Kevin is the hitting coach for the Yankees and came really close to heading to the Dodgers this season with Joe Torre. Instead, he stayed in New York out of loyalty to the team that gave him a shot in the big leagues (in 2007) after toiling in the minors for 18 years, primarily with the Royals organization.

Much like the Republicans, the Yankees also have to reassess their disappointing performance this year and figure out a winning strategy for the future.

For example, there has been some speculation that Manny Ramirez will don pinstripes next season, just in time for the inauguration of the new Yankee Stadium. Obviously, as their hitting coach, no one would be more pleased with that scenario than Kevin but, surprisingly, Manny's not the Dodger who could most improve the Yankees in 2009.

Kevin thinks that New York might make Derek Lowe the priority.

“We need to solidify our starting pitching,” he told me. “We were the only team in baseball last year with less than three starters that threw 100 innings (Mike Mussina and Andy Pettitte). We have to address the pitching situation first.”

In terms of Manny, Kevin adds, “He’d be a great fit for the Yankees. We’d love to have him. We have the resources and it’s hard not to think about what the Yankees could do with him in the lineup. You’d have to say that if we shored up our rotation and get Manny, we’d be the front-runner next year.”

By a landslide.

-- Lisa Guerrero

Lisa Guerrero has covered Super Bowls, the NBA Finals and the World Series, along with the Oscars, Emmys and Grammys. As an actress, she has appeared on "Frasier" and "The George Lopez Show" and as Billy Baldwin's long-suffering wife in the film "A Plumm Summer," which she executive-produced.